On Sept. 24 during the Monaco Yacht Show, Osvaldo Patrizzi, president and CEO of Patrizzi & Co, will conduct a live auction of 34 one-of-a-kind timepieces specially created by leading Swiss watch brands to raise money for research into Duchene Muscular Dystrophy. Two previous auctions, held in 2005 and 2007, raised more than $6 million. Prince Albert II of Monaco has supported the benefit, for the Monagesque Association against Muscular Dystrophy, since its inception in 2001.
A public preview exhibition will be held in New York at Tourneau TimeMachine, 57th Street at Madison Avenue, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thurs.–Sat., Sept. 10-12.
The auction will begin at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. EDT) Thursday, Sept. 24, in Monaco. Interested buyers can bid on the timepieces live at the traditional auction or simultaneously online (www.patrizziauction.com). One hundred percent of proceeds from the watch sales benefit the charity.
“Envisioning and studying these marvelous objects has not only provoked dreams of the amount of money that will be raised for a good cause, but also the discovery that new forms are taking shape as today’s, and tomorrow’s, horology is being sketched out by a new wave of artists—micro-mechanical artists—who see wristwatches as a new form of expression in art,” said Patrizzi.
The unique watches, for men and women, as well as two table clocks, include many complications such as perpetual calendars, celestial canopies, a “World Time,” chronographs, tourbillons, jumping hours, moon phases, and highly innovative mechanical movements in cases ranging from 18k gold to silver, steel, carbonized steel, tantalium, titanium and ceramic. Several timepieces feature enamel or engraved dials while others are adorned with diamonds and artistic flourishes.
The participating brands are Audemars Piguet, Bell & Ross, Blancpain, Bovet Fleurier, Breguet Montres, Cabestan, Cartier, Chaumet, Chanel, Confrerie Horlogere (by BNB Concept), Corum Montres, De Bethune, Delacour, Franc Vila, Franck Muller, Frédérique Constant, Gerald Charles, Girard-Perregaux, Hermès, Hublot, Jaquet Droz, Les Ateliers de Monaco, Louis Vuitton, MB&F, Montblanc, Omega, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Tag Heuer, Tourneau Timepieces, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zenith International.
www.patrizziauction.com/only_watch